WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and U.S. Representative Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, today released the following statement on the State Department Office of Inspector General’s (IG) report detailing how the State Department mishandled the suspension of former Special Envoy Robert Malley’s security clearance:
“The State Department IG’s report is disturbing and sheds light on the multiple ways the State Department grossly mismanaged Rob Malley’s case and intentionally misled Congress. Robert Malley, a political appointee and close associate of the secretary, was treated very differently than a civil servant or foreign service officer. Among the new revelations in this report, Malley conducted sensitive government business and was allowed to utilize his official email account after his clearance was suspended. As the report noted, this was done out of fear that Mr. Malley might ‘conduct government business on a personal email account.’ This concern was valid because it is one of the primary things Mr. Malley did to get his clearance suspended in the first place.
“Instead of taking this seriously, the State Department and the White House have tried to sweep this under the rug and bury Mr. Malley’s egregious violations of our national security. These revelations are quite damning, but not surprising. Congress remains in the dark on how Mr. Malley’s infractions impacted the conduct of the administration’s disastrous approach to Iran, or affected the safety of Americans. As we continue working to uncover the truth, we intend to use our authorities to hold the Biden-Harris administration to account.”
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